La Madeleine French Bakery & Cafe

I was there on 1÷23÷16 with my wife and two kids And I had the worst experience I could think I ordered a shrimp la madeleine pasta and got a chicken one I told the manager (Leonardo) that brought me the right pasta And I took a minute to let him know in a nice way that my salad that I ordered was old he replied that’s all we got If you want I’ll get you another one but is going to the same I said that’s bad product And than with a unprofessional had bad attitude he said I’ll give you’re money back and I’ll call sicurity so you can leave this place he humiliated me in front of my family two times just because I was asking for a better product If he can’t handle a complaint from a customer he shouldn’t be in restaurants business sicurity never showed up I wish they would it that unprofessional manager should be fired

I’ve gone to several La Madeleine in Houston and I have to say, this one specifically puts the chain to shame. There wasn’t very clear directions for the line. What made it so much more annoying is that it was during busy lunch time hour. The place wasn’t all that clean and they were definitely trying to rush.
Again, there are better locations than this in Houston, but this one did not meet the same standard.

Okay, so I don’t expect much from La Madeleine. But it’s an okay place to grab a bite to eat at the Galleria with a coworker. Except that it wasn’t!
Service was THE WORST. We waited for several minutes for someone to take our order, so we figured that we might be in the wrong place. So then we wandered past the buffet line down to the registers, but that apparently want what we were supposed to do. Anyway, it was a disaster service-​wise.
Typical food, but horrible (confused) service! I won’t go back! Too many places in the mall to eat to deal with that service!

I am a fan of this brand, however this location needs some management help. Maybe the problem is with the poorly trained staff or its a language problem. The staff behind the counter seems to lack the ability to understand basic English and for some reason skips customers in line. The service was atrocious!
The food is also becoming very institutional. The soup is brought out in front of the customers in large plastic bags and so is the salad. Wow, did I just wake up at McMadeleine? Hello management… How about unpacking the bags in the back into a container and then to the front of the store. I don’t think soup in plastic bags are served in a real French café.
Wake up La Madeleine, you are killing your brand!

Love this place it’s near shopping and you stop in for breakfast, lunch or just a pastry and some coffee. The soups are awesome and always fresh.
I also love the salad. But there’s a lot to choose from.

Oh fellow Unilocalers, what have you done? I was in Houston on business, and as is my customary behavior, I awoke hungry and began searching the Unilocal options for breakfast, and La Madelaine had a 3+ star rating. Done! I walked a few blocks to the Galleria mall, and trust me I was concerned once I realized that my choice was inside the mall, but 3+ stars should be a no brainer. I guess that’s indicative of the clientele that posted those high reviews because I was deeply saddened to realize that I was about to eat a «country French» breakfast at what was just another American restaurant enterprise more focused on revenues than quality food. The décor is Disneyesque French, and the staff have French-​ish attire, I was even told «Bön appetit», but the food was awful.
I chose the French Breakfast per my hostess’ suggestion. What arrived was a plate littered with fare that would be the equivalent to the $ 5.99 breakfast buffet at any strip casino in Las Vegas. There were four strips of bacon that had been cooked earlier that day, way earlier, which had begun to meld into one clingy, and nearly inseparable bacon unit, two eggs that came (who knows how long ago) from an egg factory where chickens never see the light of day, a croissant that was firm and stale and had surely broken at least all of the French food laws, and the croissant alone would cause the French to end relations with the U.S., and finally the potato galette, which still carried a distinct line around its oil soaked edge that told me that this thing had been pressed out by a machine in a mass production food factory somewhere, out there…
Unilocal can be great, and Unilocal can be horrible. I know that Unilocal is no Michelin Guide because I have seen McDonalds restaurants on Unilocal with 4 stars. At least I know to avoid McDonalds, and now I know to avoid La Madelaine Country French Café. You should too.
Vive la France!

Food is good, love the Chicken ceasar’s salad;
But service is super slow, and confusing where to order, where to pay, no employees were around
I beleive the manager wasn’t there,

Great selection of pastries and quite a tasty café lunch menu. I’ve always enjoyed this chain but this location misses the mark a bit which is surprising and disappointing. It’s either understaffed or missing some key bussing and clean up employees. Lots of dirty tables with food led us to another room with a table with a live roach on it. So we trekked back to the main room. Clean utensils and fresh bread were hard to come by. And our pasta pesto was delivered as a pasta Alfredo. Still good but we will frequent the many other restaurants in the Rice Village area and just skip this one for future meals.

Breakfast at La Mad’s is good! I had a chocolate croissant and some orange juice. Simple and delicious!

You get the bang for the buck at this place.
Whenever I feel like having a filling but economic meal near Rice University, I stop by Le Madeleine. This past time, I got a cup of mushroom soup, half a roasted vegetable sandwich and basil pesto pasta – all for under $ 10. The quantity of food is more than I can finish and almost always top-​notch. I say «almost» because sometimes the soups are a bit off. In the past I’ve gotten tomato basil soup and found it too sour. Also, I’m pretty sure I love the cream of mushroom soup because of the large proportion of cream, which in general is a shortcut to making food taste good. However, I don’t really mind, because the prices are pretty low, so I’m not expecting the most gourmet stuff out there. One more thing – the free jam and bread give the place extra points. The bread is not the freshest thing in the world, but given that I have a huge sweet tooth, I like ending my meal without having to pay for desserts.
In terms of service, ¹⁰⁄₁₀. This place is partly self-​serve, so you collect the soups, salads, silverware and drinks yourself, but a waiter usually serves the sandwich and sometimes a side. The people work fast and are super friendly.
The ambience is fantastic. I like the old wooden chairs and tables and slightly dim yellow lighting. I see a lot of people eating alone and reading a book, which I think speaks to the cosiness of the place. Or maybe I’m just a 20 year-​old grandmother. I’ll let you decide.

So we had a craving for coffee and some desserts while shopping and decided to stop at this La Madeleine. The line was sooo long. Seeing as we were only getting desserts and lattes, we ask the guy near the bakery display if he can help. I hope this review doesn’t get him in trouble but he was so nice and helped us without having to stand in the regular line. The service was wonderful and made our cakes/​coffee taste even better since he really brighten our day. The interior was classic La Madeleine style and a good place to recharge (with sweets) before heading back to more shopping :)

If you’re looking for something a little more healthy than typical greasy food court food, La Madeline is a good place to check out. This one has great ambiance for being in a mall. Many different types of seating arrangements. It feels just like any other La Madeline location.
They don’t have too many veggie options. I usually get the roasted vegetable sandwich, which comes with a side of tomato basil pesto pasta, caesar salad, or chips. I’ve had all three. I’m not a fan of cold pasta, so I probably won’t get that again. The other two sides are usually solid and so is the sandwich. Next to the drinks, they also have free bread, jams, and butter. Your meal won’t be gourmet, but for the price you pay it will be pretty good.

Guy in soup station clueless. No idea what comes in onion soup. No bread. No cheese. Barely know what onion soup is. The server brought out the food without tray and her hand touched the food.
Guy in soup station clueless. No idea what comes in onion soup. No bread. No cheese. Barely know what onion soup is. The server brought out the food without tray and her hand touched the food.

Unfortunately I had to give at least one star although this restaurant does not even deserve that. Went in for lunch while shopping at the galleria. First off this is a café style restaurant not five star dining, although it cost nearly $ 30 for a French dip sandwich and a chicken pesto pasta entrée and two drinks. After 30 minutes of not getting our food, and watching other people who had come in after us getting their food, went to the front and requested a manager who then went to the kitchen to locate our order. Appeared at that point to not even have been made yet as she couldn’t even find the order. She said she’d get it right out to us. After waiting another 10 minutes at the table and on my way to head back up to request a refund so we could go somewhere else she was finally bringing the food out. The manager who claimed her name was Annabelle, said they have been busy because of the holidays, like that was supposed to be an acceptable excuse for it to take 40 minutes to get a $ 30 sandwich and pasta entrée. She barely offered an insincere apology and made it seem as it was a bother to her to try and take care of the problem. Not even willing to comp half or any portion of the meal, just kept saying it’s busy and it’s the holidays, and walked off. The service and more so how the manager, Annabelle, handled the situation on behalf of La Madeleine, it is highly unlikely that we will eat again at any La Madeleine restaurant.

Love the food. Service? I guess. It’s happened multiple times when I’m picking up my to-​go order, and people are just talking, fooling around. I kind of just want to pick it up and go, just saaaaying. I don’t want to be the rude one to interrupt the jokes though. Let me be the considerate one, I guess.

I like La Madeleine, but not at this location. I thought it would be one of the better selections in the food court. I ordered the French Dip and a cup of French Onion Soup. When it was brought to me, the meat was heaped on there from what seemed to be the dried out ends of what was left for the day but it was lunchtime. My au jus was french onion soup (the liquid) as I discovered onions in it. I did get a French Onion soup, as the cashier handed it to me. The bread had gnats flying around it and the jelly station. I did manage to find one piece (yuk) but more gnats found me at my table. Won’t be going back to this one. Not worth the money. Oh, and the desserts had NO selection. Fruit tarts, fruit tarts and more fruit tarts.

La Madeleine was good for a restaurant in a mall, but it was still «just ok». The food was unremarkable. We walked from the Post Oak Hilton, and I wish we’d just eaten at one of the places closer to the hotel.
The coffee was poor. And the checkout area was bizarre. The two cash registers were nearly on top of one another and you had to pass your money over another customer and they had to return your change back over the other customer.
My friend raved about the tomato soup but we didn’t have any so I can’t vouch for that.
Would I eat here again? In a pinch.

Not sure why everyone thinks this place is good, my meal was hardly edible.
I tried the chicken salad croissant:
The salad was 80% runny mayonnaise and the chicken likely came from a can. It was mush, and I ended up scooping it out and eating the croissant alone. The bread wasn’t light or flakey like a traditional croissant. It was hard and over baked. One word: Gross. Chick Fil-​A has a better chicken salad sandwich.
My sister had the Pear and Bleu Cheese Salad.
After a couple bites she said, «I don’t think this works.» It had chopped pears, Bleu cheese, spring mix, and a sour vinaigrette. It was topped with a burnt cookie/​bread thing.
Customer Service:
You order cafeteria style, but it’s very confusing. Hard to find the menu, about 3 people behind the counter who ask a bunch a questions before you have a chance to decide. Once you do, you have to flag down a guy to take your order. Not sure why they do this? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have the menu largely displayed with 3 – 4 POS systems for ordering, then a pickup window?
Also, very limited drink options. Disappointed to find they only had coke, bland tea, and coffee.

Blows any food court experience I’ve ever had, out of the water! The eggs Benedict, and French breakfast dishes are amazing. The whole fam devoured everything ordered. Great way to start the day! You can’t go wrong with the cappuccino or the got chocolate either.

This chain keeps getting worse and worse. The quiche tasted like powdered eggs cooked on the space station then poured into the little mold and reheated a second time. The Caesar salad remains definitive, but now there are better ones coming out of the bags in the produce section. The grilled chicken on the Caesar was just wrong and oddly seasoned, like it belonged in a taco. French dip sandwich was lousy and tasteless.
Staff were as nice as staff could be inside a mall.
Skip it unless you’re ok with eating something that’s like a lean cuisine.